During the Sunday evacuation of French nationals from the embassy, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of Sudan tweeted that they were assaulted by aircraft.
The Sudanese army alleges that the event occurred as a result of an attack by RSF troops, which they have rejected. One French national was hurt in the incident.
The tweets state, “This morning (4/23/2023), the Rapid Support Forces were attacked by aircraft during the evacuation of French nationals from their country’s embassy, passing by Bahri to Omdurman, which endangered the lives of French nationals by injuring one of them.”
The Rapid Support Forces report that the evacuation convoy of French nationals left the French embassy this morning and reached the city of Bahri en route to Omdurman in good coordination with the French administration.
Members of the French embassy were present to document “this flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law and the declared truce,” the post said.
Because of this despicable attempt, the Rapid Support Forces had to take the convoy back to its original starting position to ensure the protection of the French nationals.
It has been said that “the Rapid Support Forces reaffirm their full commitment to the declared armistice and the opening of humanitarian corridors to enable citizens to obtain the necessary services and to facilitate the movement of foreign nationals to the evacuation areas designated by their governments.”
As combat persisted, many nations began evacuating their citizens, including Saudi Arabia, which flew out 66 foreign nationals and roughly 100 of its own citizens.
A French diplomatic source told the news agency AFP that the Sudanese military and their opponent, the RSF paramilitary group, had “given guarantees of security” to allow the operation to go, but that they could not do so publicly.
Each side holds the other responsible for the breakdown of the Eid ceasefire.
The head of the Sudanese armed forces, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, has called for talks to resolve the violence in his country.
Al-Burhan said, “The biggest loser in this war is the Sudanese people,” in an interview with Al Arabiya TV. The people of Sudan must get together to discuss how to best restore hope and livelihoods.
To that end, he said, “we share the international community’s concern towards Sudanese citizens as living conditions there are deteriorating.”
World Health Organisation reports that since combat between the army and RSF broke out in Sudan a week ago, hundreds of people have been killed and thousands more have been injured.
Even though both sides had promised to stop fighting for the three days of Eid Al-Fitr, intermittent gunfire and air strikes rang out over Khartoum on Saturday, prompting Al-Burhan to say that the army was working with other countries to help evacuate expatriate nationals.
